Do You Know Yourself Enough to Really Know Someone Else

I think about ‘knowing thyself’ and to me, that just sounds like a maze you build and forget how to navigate. Can anyone really know themselves? Is it possible or is that just something that is told to try and say something else? Is self-discovery possible and how can it be done?

How do you Know Yourself?

You self-discover by understanding who you are internally and accurately judging what others think of you. Internal self-awareness entails assessing what is important to you, why it matters, and what you should do to ensure that it remains well or unbothered. For instance, if your job is important to you, then knowing yourself is knowing that it is, why it is important to you, and what you can do to ensure job security.

Several ways to know yourself include:

1. By pursuing mindfulness through yoga or meditation.
2. By asking yourself thoughtful questions such as why do I pray?
3. By being honest with yourself.
4. By understanding what others think of you and whether their opinions should or should not matter.
5. By taking an online personality test.

Is Knowing Yourself Important?

Knowing yourself is important as it allows you a better understanding of the various ways you would navigate particular situations. For instance, when you know yourself then you can understand and anticipate how you would react if you lost your job; would you sulk and start doubting yourself or would you step up to the challenge, start finding a new job and examine what you did wrong to avoid such an occurrence in the future?

Can You Know Yourself?

It is possible to know yourself and the best way to do so is to make an effort towards self-discovery. For example, taking an online personality test can be one of the quickest ways to know yourself. Self-discovery and self-awareness is, however, a process that takes time and includes repetitive attempts at gathering information about yourself. It’s a little bit like anthropology or geology where geologists do all they can to uncover knowledge about fossils.

Who Said Know Yourself?

The phrase “know thyself/know yourself” has been attributed to the Greek philosopher Socrates who also said that “an unexamined life is not worth living.”

Knowing Someone Else

Knowing someone else is a whole other minefield especially when you do not know yourself. It is possible to know someone else even on a deeper level but it takes mutual effort and understanding. The two of you have to sit down and talk and get to figure things out about each other.
It’s a cumbersome process but one that can be done when the two of you respect one another, care for each other, and have shock-absorbers to navigate the process.

You should be prepared to learn things you might not like about them and know how to react to any shockers. Someone may open up to you and if you respond to something shocking or something you don’t like negatively, that may lead them to close up and not open up to you anymore.

How to Understand Others’ Feelings

Understanding others’ feelings entails the following.

1. Being empathetic and putting yourself in their shoes.
2. Having enough information about them to know what leads them to anger or joy.
3. Knowing their personality and personality traits.
4. Talking and communicating with them regularly and establishing constant contact.
5. Creating a sense of safety and assuring them that they can talk to you comfortably about anything and no matter how good and bad things are, you will take whatever you are told positively and empathetically without judging or disliking them.

How to Get to Know Someone on a Deeper Level

Getting to know someone on a deeper level can be done by constantly communicating with them in a way that ensures they feel that they can talk to you. For instance, you can get to know a friend on a deeper level if they are assured that the friendship is solid and is based on a strong foundation of respect, care, and being there for one another.

Process of Getting to Know Someone

The process of getting to know someone is as follows.

1. Meeting them and spending time together doing something that you both like.
2. Keeping constant communication and interaction.
3. Opening up to one another and sharing your feelings about your struggles and what is important to you.
4. Being discreet about what is shared with you and being trustworthy enough to keep secrets.
5. Communicating and relating respectfully and with a mutual love for one another.

How to get to Know Someone in a Relationship

Getting to know someone in a relationship entails mutuality in how you feel about one another. Several ways to get to know someone in a relationship include the following.

1. Talking often and regularly.
2. Being an active listener.
3. Showing that you care and will be there for them no matter how bad things get.
4. Opening up to them and letting them know that they can open up to you.
5. Establishing a sense of trust and security.